Where You Need to Be
by Christine Morgan
Summary: Lex's online pen pal is coming to New York, and Owen's keeping secrets again. #4 in a saga.


Where You Need to Be

  
Where You Need to Be   
by Christine Morgan   
[http://www.sabledrake.com][1]   
[christine@sabledrake.com][2]

  
Author's Note: the characters of Gargoyles are the property of Disney and   
are used here without their creators' knowledge or consent.   
  
#4 in an ongoing Gargoyles fanfic saga   
  
"Aw, come on, Hudson!" Brooklyn hammered a fist against the  
closed door.  
"What is going on?" Goliath asked.  
"He's been in there for an hour," Broadway complained.  
The door opened and Hudson filled the space, glowering at the  
younger gargoyles. His hair and beard were damp and neatly combed, and  
his wings shone as if they'd been waxed. "Do ye mind, laddies? Canna I  
have nary a moment's peace?"  
"Whoa, Hudson!" Brooklyn said. "Lookin' sharp!"  
Bronx lumbered toward Hudson and prepared to leap, but Hudson  
caught the beast's forepaws and lowered him to the ground. "No ye don't,  
boy. Ye'll muss me tunic."  
Broadway and Goliath exchanged a glance.  
"What's with him?" Broadway asked, his voice filled with  
skepticism.  
A discreet tap came at the door of the spacious hall Xanatos had  
given them as their own quarters. A moment later, the tap was followed by  
Owen Burnett. The ramrod-stiff, humorless fellow was carrying a bouquet  
of lilies and baby's breath. He offered it to Hudson.  
"I hope these prove sufficient, sir," he said blandly. "Oh, and if you  
could relate to Lexington that the modems are running again?" With a polite  
little half-bow to the others, he left the room.  
"Flowers?" Brooklyn said. "What for?"  
"As it happens," Hudson said, sweeping past them, "I have a date."  
This pronouncement left them all too stunned to move. Brooklyn's  
beak gaped like that of a starving baby eaglet. Even Goliath was taken  
aback. Nobody uttered another sound as Hudson climbed the circular tower  
stair leading back to the rooftop.  
"But it's Must See TV Thursday," Broadway finally said.  
"Must be some date!" Brooklyn turned to Goliath. "What's going  
on? Who could Hudson have a date with?"  
Goliath smiled. "His secrets are not mine to tell." With that, he  
strode grandly away, leaving the two of them standing perplexed by the  
bathroom door.  
"Yeah, your own secrets aren't even yours to tell," Brooklyn  
muttered under his breath at Goliath's departing back.  
"Huh?" Broadway asked.  
"Hey, guys, what's up?" Lex said cheerily, bounding across the  
room.  
Angela approached with more grace, so much grace that it  
momentarily took Brooklyn's mind off of other matters. "Is something  
wrong?" she frowned prettily.  
"Everybody's acting weird," Broadway said. "Hudson is going on a  
date."  
"A date?!?" Lex and Angela chimed in unison.  
"Goliath's acting strange, too," Brooklyn mused. "Haven't you  
noticed? I mean, with Elisa gone all week, you'd expect him to be brooding  
and morose the way he does."  
"Nobody does brooding and morose quite like my father," Angela  
agreed.  
"But he hasn't been. I've never seen him like this before."  
"Maybe he's finally used to being back in the castle," Broadway  
suggested. "Maybe he thinks Xanatos really means it this time."  
"It's Elisa," Angela said knowingly. "Remember, before we helped  
her and Matt get Vito Draconi, he _was_ brooding and morose. It didn't  
have anything to do with Xanatos. He was worried that he might lose Elisa  
to that man Jason."  
"Yeah, the Hunter, the crazy creep who tried to kill us," Brooklyn  
growled.  
She shushed him with a gesture. "And then, when she didn't come  
around so much, he must've thought she regretted kissing him."  
"What?" barked the trio.  
"When was _that_?" Brooklyn demanded in addition.  
"Just before dawn on the first morning we were here," she said,  
with a smug little grin. "I saw it. He doesn't know I did, but I saw."  
"Wow," Broadway said. "I didn't think that was ever gonna  
happen."  
"I did," Angela said. She batted her eyes flirtatiously at the others  
and fluffed her hair. "Sometimes a girl just can't help it."  
"Then why would she be sorry?" Broadway wondered aloud.  
Here, Angela shrugged. "That's the part I don't understand. But I  
bet that's what made him upset for those weeks. And then, the other night ..."  
"After Draconi, he was gone with Elisa for hours," Brooklyn said.  
"The next night, he never came back at all! And ever since then, he's been in  
a great mood!"  
"Aw, come on," Broadway protested. "You don't think he and Elisa  
... I mean, it wouldn't be possible. Would it?"  
"You guys are awful," Lex said. "I'm getting out of here. I bet  
Goliath would crack skulls if he heard you talking like this."  
"Talking like what?" the deep voice of their leader rumbled.  
All four of them, seasoned warriors, jumped, yelped, and looked  
guilty.  
"Nothing, Father," Angela said, putting on her most innocent  
expression in the face of his glowering suspicion.  
"Owen said the computer was fixed," Broadway told Lex,  
desperate to change the subject.  
"All right!" Lex cried.  
"Great," Brooklyn muttered. "He'll spend all night planted in front  
of that thing."  
"Well, I'm expecting mail from Aiden," Lex said defensively.  
"Oooh-hoo, Aiden," Brooklyn teased. "Your sweetheart."  
"Shut up!" Lex cried, aggreived.  
"Have you ... ya know?" Brooklyn pressed. "I've heard about that  
online stuff."  
"Is that all you ever think about?" Angela scoffed, running her  
talon lightly up his arm and flicking the tip of his beak before walking away  
with extra swing in her hips and tail.  
Brooklyn immediately went maroon, aware of the others looking at  
him. Most notably, of Goliath looking down at him from his imposing  
height. "Hey! Goliath! I don't know what she's talking about!" He glanced  
wistfully after Angela. "I mean, I wish I did, but ..."  
Lex chortled. "Oh, did she get you! How do you like it, hotshot?"  
"Come on, loverboy," Broadway said jovially. "Let's go patrol or  
something."  
"Be careful," Goliath immediately ordered. "We cannot risk being  
seen."  
"We'll be careful," Brooklyn promised, his skin back to a more  
normal hue.  
"I'll stay here," Lex chirped, already darting toward the elaborate  
computer setup Xanatos had installed.  
He'd said it was a gift, Goliath recalled. There had been many  
"gifts" from Xanatos. The spacious hall had been redone to offer them every  
possible luxury. Enormous television, rack after rack of movies, a complete  
kitchenette along one wall, even a jetted whirlpool bath which for some  
reason Bronx adored. And this computer station.  
He followed Lex and watched as the smaller gargoyle surely and  
effortlessly switched on the various systems. Goliath's own claws would  
have made typing difficult, but Lex's agile fingers flew over the keyboard.  
"Who is Aiden?" Goliath asked.  
Lex flushed copper. "She's just a girl," he said. "We've been  
writing back and forth. That's all."  
"I did not mean to pry," Goliath said. "Merely curious."  
"She's really nice," Lex said. "Her father is a professor of medieval  
history at U.C. Irvine, so she knows all about castles and stuff. And her  
mom's Scottish."  
"Interesting."  
The computer made a triumphant little booping noise and a box  
came up in the center of the screen.  
"Yes!" Lex cried. "Mail from Aiden! She's probably been  
wondering where I've been."  
"I'll leave you to it, then," Goliath said, giving Lex an indulgent pat  
on the shoulder.  
Lex shook his head. Goliath _was_ acting strange. Not to say that  
Angela was right, but _something_ must have put him in such a good mood.  
His speculations broke off abruptly as he saw Aiden's message.  
"Oh, no!" he groaned.  
Goliath, prowling along the bookshelf, glanced his way.  
"Something wrong?"  
"Yeah," Lex sighed. "It's Aiden. She's coming to New York. She  
wants to meet me."  
"Ah," Goliath said wisely. "That does pose a problem."  
Lex shoved his chair away from the terminal, rolling easily over the  
plastic sheet protecting the hardwood floor. "Rats, rats, rats!" he said,  
thumping himself on the head with one fist and pounding on the arm of the  
chair with the other. "What am I going to do? I can't meet her. That'd be  
crazy! But if I tell her no, she'll think I don't like her, and I do, I really do!"  
Goliath came back and peered at the computer screen.  
Lex -- great news! I'm going to be in New  
York this weekend! My dad is presenting  
a paper at a national conference of historians,  
and he decided to take the whole family on a  
vacation! We only just found out or I would  
have told you sooner. One of Dad's  
colleagues in the department was going to  
go but broke his arm yesterday.  
Anyway, we're leaving Friday night and will  
be there for five days! Mom and Aunt Mary  
are hoping to tour that castle, the one the  
millionaire guy shipped over from Scotland.  
Xanatos, I think his name is. I guess Mom  
knows him.  
So, since I'm going to be there, I thought  
maybe we could get together for a soda or  
something. I think it would be really great  
to meet you in person finally. What do you  
say? -- Aiden >  
"Hmm," Goliath said. "Her mother knows Xanatos?"  
"Goliath!" Lex cried. "Who cares about that? She wants to meet  
me! What should I do? I mean, she thinks I'm a regular guy. A human."  
Goliath made his distinctive sound somewhere between a sigh and  
a growl. "I wish I could help you, Lexington. Not all humans see us as  
monsters. But you would not want to frighten this girl and risk losing her  
friendship."  
"If I don't meet her, I might lose her friendship anyway," Lex  
agonized. "It's awful! I've only known her for two months, but ... I really like  
her a lot. She's smart, and we like the same things, and she's funny ... a guy  
could fall in love!"  
"I understand your feelings," he said. "It is your decision,  
Lexington. The clan will stand by you."  
"You mean, if I wanted to meet her, you'd let me? After what  
happened with the Pack?"  
"That was years ago. You are a warrior and an adult. The Pack  
turned out to be our enemies, but we have met other friends since. I trust  
your judgement."  
"Thanks, Goliath. But you're right, I don't want to scare her." He  
clapped both hands to the sides of his head and spun the chair in a tight  
circle. "Aaarrrgh!"  
"Love is never simple," Goliath commented. A warm smile  
softened his stony countenance, and Lex was suddenly sure he was thinking  
of Elisa. "I know you will make the right choice."  
Lex heaved a sigh that shuddered him from head to tail. "Yeah, I  
hope so." He turned back to the keyboard as Goliath resumed his perusal of  
the bookshelves.  
Aiden -- it would be great to meet you,  
but I don't know if it's such a good idea.  
There are things I haven't told you  
about myself, and I guess I'm worried  
that you wouldn't like me as much if you  
met me in person. I'm really sorry. -- Lex >  
He chewed his lip thoughtfully, then added a P.S.: I know about  
Xanatos. He's got a criminal record and an unsavory reputation. Be careful  
around him. How does your mom know him anyway?  
Then, before he could change his mind, he sent the message.  
Something twisted inside him. His heart, probably. Not broken, but wrung  
out like a dishrag. Trying to put it out of his mind, he called up some  
newsgroups and tried to lose himself in the various discussions and debates.  
Some time later, the computer booped at him to signal new mail.  
He looked up and saw that Goliath was gone. Except for Bronx, snoring by  
Hudson's chair, he was alone.  
Thick, bitter melancholy seemed to churn in his stomach as he  
punched the keys that would let him view this latest message.  
Lex -- I was afraid you'd say something  
like that. It doesn't matter what you look  
like. I'm no model or movie star either. But I  
still want to meet you. This might be the only  
chance I get to come to New York. It doesn't have  
to be a real date or anything. Tell you what,  
Saturday night I'll be on the footbridge in  
Central Park (I saw a picture of it in the guide-  
book Aunt Mary bought) at about eight-thirty.  
If you want, meet me then. If not, that's o.k.  
too. But think about it.  
Oh, yeah -- I guess my parents met Mr.  
Xanatos a long time ago, when I was only  
a little kid. He bought a book from them. I  
don't know what book, but I do know Mom  
sometimes wishes she hadn't sold it.  
I've got to get ready to go, so I probably  
won't be able to wait for a reply. Hope I  
see you Saturday! -- Aiden >  
"Oh, no, oh, no!" Lex chanted. Quick as he could, he dashed off a  
reply and sent it, hoping he'd caught her in time.  
He spent the rest of the evening randomly surfing, poking around  
websites, hardly paying attention to anything he saw while his ears were  
awaiting the heralding boop of the mail server.  
Nothing.  
Nothing.  
Midnight, and still nothing.  
"Only nine o'clock in California," he told himself, and kept waiting.  
Nothing.  
Hudson returned from his big date with a foil-wrapped package of  
homemade cookies. Lex accepted and ate one without asking a single  
question. Hudson's mystery date was the furthest thing from his mind. The  
cookie could have been plastic for all he noticed.  
He waited.  
Nothing.  
More nothing. Two a.m. now, eleven o'clock in California.  
The others returned from patrol at four-thirty, and Lex finally had  
to give up. He sulked up to the roof, ignoring their questions and concern  
about his mood. He slumped on a rampart and waited again, this time for the  
dawn.  
"Gosh," Angela said as Lex wandered out. "What's the matter with  
him?"  
"Dunno," Broadway said. "Hey, cookies! Where'd you get these,  
Hudson?"  
"I made them meself," the older gargoyle said proudly.  
"It shows," Brooklyn muttered, holding up one that was  
particularly misshapen.  
"Oh, get on with ye," Hudson scolded, cheerfully enough. "I dinna  
see ye learning how to cook."  
"Someone's teaching you how to cook?" Angela inquired sweetly.  
"And you gave up Friends and ER for it?" Broadway mumbled  
around a mouthful of cookie, cupping a hand in front of his face as a crumb  
shield.  
"Not that it be any of yer business," Hudson said, "but I didna miss  
me shows. Maria has a television right in the kitchen."  
"Maria Chavez?" Brooklyn blurted. "Elisa's boss?"  
"Brooklyn!" Angela poked him in the shoulder. "Have some tact!  
You're such a hatchling!"  
"You didn't think so tonight," he replied, winking.  
"Enough!" she blushed.  
"Hunh," Broadway said. "Everybody's got a girlfriend but me."  
Bronx raised his head and whined.  
"Oh, yeah, and you, Bronx." Broadway perked up a bit.  
"Actually," Angela said, "Bronx has a sweetie back on Avalon."  
"Oh." Broadway's face fell again.  
"Hey, come on," Brooklyn said. "You've got lots of girlfriends."  
"I do?"  
"Sure! Betty Crocker, Sara Lee, Mrs. Fields -- ow!" he yelped as  
Broadway smacked him with his tail. They fell to tusseling.  
Angela rolled her eyes at Hudson. "Boys!" she said in a tone of  
fond exasperation. "I think I'll go see what's bothering Lex."  
"That'd be well," Hudson said. "I'll bide a wee here and be sure  
these two jesters dinna break anything of value."  
"That would be muchly appreciated," Owen Burnett said.  
"Blast it all, do ye have to creep about like a bloody ghost?!"  
Hudson exclaimed, whirling on the expressionless man.  
"My apologies," Owen said. He looked around. "I was intending to  
ask if the computer system was functioning adequately."  
"It'd seem to be," Hudson said, waving at Angela to go on. Behind  
him, Broadway was threatening to turn Brooklyn into both second and third  
in command. "Lexington was using it all night."  
"Excellent," Owen said, and while he said it as emotionlessly as he  
said everything else, without any leering or steepling of the fingers, Hudson  
was forcibly reminded of a character on that cartoon show he sometimes  
watched. His leathery skin crawled.  
"Here now, what be ye up to?" he snarled.  
Owen turned a look of bland surprise on him. "Nothing at all, sir."  
"Yer lying through yer teeth, lad. I know ye're still the trickster on  
the inside, no matter how ye may appear on the out. Ye'd do well to leave us  
be."  
"I assure you, I have no hostile intent toward any of your clan. Nor  
do any of the Xanatos family. Quite the contrary, in fact."  
"Well, I'll believe that when I see it," Hudson muttered.  
"Is something the matter?" Goliath asked, appearing in the  
doorway.  
"Not at all," Owen said. "I trust you had a pleasant evening?"  
"What is it to you?" Goliath asked.  
"Just conversation," Owen said. "A misplaced effort, I see. I'll let  
myself out."  
"Ye do that," Hudson said. He gave Broadway and Brooklyn a  
hard nudge with his talon. "Ye two! Look at ye! Ye've fair rumpled the  
carpet and made fools o' yerselves."  
"What did he want?" Goliath asked, nodding toward the now-  
closed door.  
"He be up to something," Hudson replied, stroking his beard. "I  
dinna know what, and 'tis fair strange that I believe him when he says 'tis  
nothing hostile, but yet I wonder."  
"As do I, old friend. As do I." Goliath reached down almost  
absently and hauled Broadway and Brooklyn upright. "Come. It is nearly  
dawn."  
Bronx yawned hugely and followed them up the curving stairs that  
gave onto the ramparts. In the east, the sky was beginning to lighten. Goliath  
stepped up onto his perch while the others glided down to their places.  
Angela patted Lex on the shoulder as the others arrived. "We can  
talk about it more tonight," she said, "but I think you should go. You need to  
be there, at least."  
"Yeah," Lex said, gazing toward the rising sun. "Yeah, it's where I  
need to be."  
* *  
Saturday night.  
Here he was, gliding over Central Park, shifting side to side on the  
air currents, the moon riding the sky overhead.  
He spotted the footbridge just as a distant clock chimed eight. The  
park was quiet, not a peaceful quiet but a watchful one. Lexington guessed  
that the last time this park had experienced a peaceful quiet was sometime  
back around the turn of the century.  
He found a tree with a convenient view of the bridge and settled  
down to wait.  
A few people passed by, couples mostly. Some of the romance was  
taken out of their strolls by the alert way they scanned the surroundings.  
Little time was spent gazing into each other's eyes. Half of the women kept  
their hands close by open purses, wherein was probably concealed pepper  
spray, tazers, or even guns. Half the men walked like they were trying to  
give the impression that they were secret karate masters.  
Lex's lip curled as he imagined the guide book Aiden had seen the  
photo in. No mention of muggers or worse, he was sure. Just scenic views  
that left out the graffitti, the trash, and the more exotic animals. It was no  
place for anybody alone, especially not a seventeen-year-old girl.  
He hoped she'd gotten his message. He hoped that she was even  
now relaxing safely in her parents' hotel room, with no plans to wander the  
park at night. Sad, maybe, or mad at him, but safe.  
He hoped, but in his heart he knew he was wrong.  
Someone was coming. Through moonlight and shadow and  
intervals of brighter manmade light. A girl. Walking slowly, yet with a  
nervousness in her step.  
He watched as she went halfway over the bridge and stopped.  
It was her. It was Aiden.  
Looking more like one of Oberon's children than any daughter of  
man and woman.  
Lex himself reached just over five feet when standing straight, but  
Aiden would have had to look up an inch. She was thin, waiflike. From a  
distance, it would have been easy to mistake her true age at closer to twelve.  
Her hair was a pale blond that was more beige than gold. It was  
pulled back in a clip from her face, which was unremarkable but not plain.  
Her eyes were large, gentle, the eyes of a doe. The moonlight made her skin  
almost translucent.  
Lexington rested his chin in his hands, drinking in the sight of her.  
He had for some reason envisioned her to be tall, maybe because everyone  
he knew except for Bronx and Alexander Xanatos towered over him.  
Instead, she was of a size with him. Had he been human, they could have  
walked together or danced without looking mismatched.  
What would she do if he glided down to meet her? Faint? Run  
screaming to the nearest police station? Clout him over the head with the  
denim purse gripped tightly in her small hands?  
The clock chimed the half-hour. Eight-thirty. She was right on  
time.  
Someone else was coming. She turned in that direction, and even  
from his perch Lex could see the hope dawning in her eyes.  
It was a man, about six feet, lanky, ambling along as if he owned  
the world. His black jeans were stylishly, carefully ripped. His boots  
clomped hollowly on the bridge. A dark blond ponytail dangled to the  
middle of his leather-jacketed back. He looked to be in his early twenties,  
with a goatee on his chin and a silver hoop dangling from one ear.  
He paused when he saw Aiden.  
Lex was tense as a coiled spring. All those long nights of patrol had  
taught him how to recognize trouble when he saw it, and that was how his  
mind automatically dubbed this guy. Trouble.  
Trouble glanced around, seeing for himself what Lex already knew.  
The park was temporarily deserted. He then sauntered closer to the girl on  
the bridge, who took a tentative step toward him and said, "Are you ...  
Lex?"  
A calculating look flashed briefly over Trouble's face, quickly  
swallowed by a broad grin. "Yeah, baby, it's me."  
She frowned slightly. "Lex? Really?"  
"You were expecting maybe John Travolta?"  
"I didn't know if you'd come," she said. "I'm so glad you decided to  
meet me!"  
Lex bit his lip. He wanted to yell, to warn her. But he would give  
himself away! All he could do was hope that somebody came along, or that  
she realized something was wrong before it was too late.  
"Why wouldn't I want to meet you?" Trouble asked. He held out a  
hand. "Hey, let's go for a walk. What time to you have to be back?"  
"Dad's at the conference already, and Mom and Aunt Mary went to  
see 'Cats.' They don't even know I'm out. As long as I'm not gone too long..."  
"That's great, baby. That's just great."  
Lex's hands hurt, and it wasn't until he looked at them and saw that  
they were clenched into tight fists that he knew why. With an effort, he  
loosed them and scrambled to another branch, to keep Aiden and Trouble in  
sight as he began leading her off the bridge.  
"No, no, no!" Lex muttered, anger and fear vying for the top spot.  
He had to do something. Had to. Gargoyles protect. No matter what the cost  
personally. He had to protect her.  
* *  
Aiden looked up at Lex, who stood a whole foot taller than her.  
Goosebumps were breaking out all over her skin, and she didn't think it was  
because she was swept away by romance.  
Sad to say, Lex gave her the creeps.  
He didn't at all talk the same way he wrote. And there was a pack  
of cigarettes in his jacket pocket, although she was sure she remembered  
him mentioning at one point that he didn't smoke.  
She was wishing now that she hadn't pressed for this meeting.  
Things were never going to be the same. He wasn't at all what she'd  
expected. If they'd met in person first, she wouldn't have wanted to have  
anything to do with him.  
It's because he's from New York, she told herself. There aren't  
many guys like this in Irvine because it's such a clean little city. I bet if you  
went up to L.A., nearly everybody would dress like this.  
The argument didn't hold much water.  
"Um, Lex?" she said hesitantly.  
"Yeah, baby?"  
"Maybe I should get back. You were right; this wasn't a very good  
idea."  
"It's a great idea. Come on. Don't wimp out on me." His hand  
closed on her wrist like a manacle.  
"I want to go back!" she said, alarmed to hear her voice come out  
in a near-hysterical screech.  
"You're not going anywhere!" he snarled, wrenching her arm.  
"You're not Lex!" she cried, jerking away,  
He was surprised by the sudden movement and she actually got  
free, which surprised her so much that she didn't take advantage of it. Before  
she could move, he had seized her by the shoulders and slammed her against  
a tree.  
"I said you're not going anywhere!" His breath was hot and foul on  
her face.  
Stupid! she raged at herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid!  
She'd heard stories about things like this. She'd gone off alone with  
a stranger, going against everything her parents and teachers had ever said.  
Gone off alone, nobody knew where she was, nobody nearby, and if what  
she'd heard about New York was true, nobody would respond to a scream in  
the dark anyway.  
His sharp-feratured, weasellike face loomed close. She knew what  
was going to happen. He'd beat her up, rob her, rape her. Then maybe kill  
her and leave her body in the bushes. Or kidnap her, get her hooked on  
drugs, and turn her into a prostitute. The double chains of addiction and  
shame would keep her bound to him, keep her away from her parents.  
She called up her mother's face in her mind, serene blue eyes, a  
cascade of blond hair streaked with silver. Her father, totally grey at forty  
but with kind brown eyes and a warm smile. To never see them again was  
unbearable.  
The guy, the sleazeball, tore her purse from her hands. Brief flare  
of hope -- maybe all he wanted was money! Not that the eleven bucks in her  
wallet would appease him. The flare fizzled when he threw the purse away  
unopened.  
"Now, listen up," he whispered. "You just cooperate and nobody  
will get hurt."  
She jerked away from him and he easily shoved her into the tree  
again. Bark scraped her elbow. He braced his forearm across her throat,  
cutting off her air. Her hands tugged ineffectually at his arm.  
She should do something! Kick him in the groin, bite him,  
something! Instead, for some crazy reason, she found herself thinking of  
Latin class. Not high school, no, at her school you had your choice, you  
could take Spanish, and if you didn't care for Spanish you could take  
Espanol. The Latin class she'd attended last summer at the university, on a  
program designed to give promising students a head start on college.  
*Luminarus occaere effugium evadere,* she thought, a meaningless  
string of words in her mind, not properly conjugated or put together in a  
sensible sentence. She only even vaguley understood what they meant.  
Crazy thoughts, hallucinations brought on by lack of air. She barely noticed  
him pawing roughly at her chest.  
A pulse of light swept across the guy's face, reflected car headlights  
or maybe a cop's flashlight, didn't matter, dazzled him briefly so that his  
hold on her relaxed.  
She didn't waste time on gratitude; that could come later if she  
survived. She brought her knee up as if guided by divine aim and rammed it  
into the fork of his crotch. In the same motion, she pistoned her hands out  
and struck him in the gut.  
He whoofed and bent double, and Aiden fled. Her feet tangled in  
her own purse strap. Stumbled, almost fell, missed knocking her head on a  
park bench by inches, and then heard his wordless furious cry and the  
thunderous sound of pursuit.  
  
* *  
Lex couldn't believe what he'd just seen.  
He'd followed, and true to his suspicions seen Trouble grab Aiden  
and shove her against a tree. He was just about to sweep in when something  
happened that stunned him.  
Light had flashed from Aiden's hands. Pale silver light, like a  
mirrorful of moonbeams. It had blinded Trouble and allowed her to escape.  
_Was_ she one of Oberon's children? Goliath insisted they'd been  
called back to Avalon for some convention or something, leaving behind  
only the bizarre members of the Xanatos household.  
It didn't matter. What mattered was that Trouble had recovered  
enough to chase Aiden, and was gaining on her. They were headed under a  
bridge, not a footbridge over water but a tunnel under a street.   
Aiden raced into that dark arch of stone, gasping for breath, casting  
frantic, terrified glances back over her shoulder. She was looking back more  
than forward, which was why she didn't see the cardboard box until she was  
unable to swerve. She crashed into it and knocked it over, scrambled to her  
feet again, but by then Trouble was right behind her.  
And Lex was right behind him, gliding silently. He landed on the  
underside of the tunnel, claws finding easy handholds in the cracked and  
seamed concrete.  
He grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around. Something  
clicked in his hand, and Lex's keen night vision saw the handle of a  
switchblade sprout its deadly fang.  
"You little bitch!" Trouble snarled. "I'm going to cut your damn  
head off!"  
She cringed against the damp, curved wall of the tunnel. Lex could  
see her face, a pale oval in the darkness, and her eyes wide with terror.  
Lex pounced.  
* *  
She saw the knife, glinting in the shadows. The guy himself was a  
darker form in the darkness.  
And then she saw something else. Twin blazes of cold white fire  
overhead. Eyes. The eyes of a vicious animal. In the backsplash of eerie  
radiance, she had a brief glimpse of something clinging to the wall like a  
giant spider.  
And then there was a sound like the wind, and a breeze on her face  
as the guy was yanked backward away from her. His startled cry was choked  
off. Something spiderlike swarmed over him.  
Aiden heard the meaty thuds of heavy blows. She saw the guy raise  
an arm defensively, and saw clawed fingers jerk his wrist, heard the kindling  
snap of breaking bones.  
A book she'd read recently flashed into her mind, a book about a  
monster able to take many forms, that lived in the sewers and under the  
bridges. For an instant, her eyes flew upward, half-expecting to see the  
underside of the bridge concealed by a bobbing forest of balloons.  
A strangled cry of pain, a final hideous crack, and silence.  
He was dead. She was sure of it. The guy was dead, maybe he'd  
even deserved it, but she was bound to be next. A high, breathless shriek  
forced itself from her throat and she bolted back the way she'd come,  
springing over the cardboard box with an ungainly leap.  
She could hear it following her and raced for the end of the tunnel,  
now thinking of the legend of Sleepy Hollow, sure that if she could just  
reach the light, pallid though it was, she would be safe. Even so, she didn't  
stop when she emerged from the tunnel but kept running.  
"Aiden! Wait!"  
The sound of her name was a shock that hit her with huge, galvanic  
force. Her feet lost their rhythm and this time she fell full length, landing in  
a springy cushion of grass. Her jaw clacked together nearly hard enough to  
break teeth.  
She heard something coming closer and rolled onto her back. Saw  
the creature only a few feet away. Scrabbled backwards on hands and feet  
and butt.  
"I'm not going to hurt you," it -- no, he -- said. He sighed. "I never  
meant for this to happen."  
She stopped. Her gaze traveled slowly over him, taking in every  
detail. Pale olive green skin, pointed ears, fangs, membraneous wings, tail.  
And his expression -- agonized, fearful, tortured, sad, and hopeful mixed all  
into one.  
"You're Lex," she heard herself breathe.  
He nodded, looking down as if ashamed.  
A long silence spun out between them like Clotho's thread of fate.  
In a small and quavering voice, Aiden said, "Gosh, you don't look  
anything like I pictured you."  
"Yeah," he said. "Guess I never told you I was bald."  
She gaped incredulously at him and then burst out laughing. "No, I  
guess you never did."  
He offered a hand. "Can I help you up?"  
She hesitated, looking at that alien three-fingered claw, and beyond  
it to the sincerity in his large eyes. Smiled. Took his hand.  
He helped her up with easy strength. He was only a little bit taller  
than she was. Her other hand came up and touched his face wonderingly.  
His skin was warm and smooth.  
"You're a gargoyle," she said. "Like on cathedrals, but alive. Like  
on television a couple of months ago. My father said it was a hoax, a new  
War of the Worlds, but Aunt Mary swore it was for real."  
"Yeah, that was us," he said. "But we didn't blow up the police  
station. Some other people did, trying to kill us."  
"Did you kill that guy?" she asked, jerking her head back toward  
the tunnel. "The creep?"  
"No. He'll live. He'll need an ambulance, though. I was going to  
find a pay phone and tell the cops where to pick him up. But I wanted to  
make sure you were all right. Think you can find your way back?"  
"You're leaving? Why?"  
"Well, you know ..." he scuffed his feet in the grass.  
"Please don't leave," she said. "Please don't. I really did want to  
meet you, no matter what."  
He blinked. "Okay."  
"But let's get out of here before he wakes up. I've got a quarter to  
call the -- oh, my purse!"  
"I know where it is." He motioned for her to follow and began  
loping across the grass on all fours, fast and agile, his wings tucked against  
his sides.  
No one had happened along and taken her purse. She dug through  
it and came up with a quarter, then they found a pay phone. It was along a  
well-lit stretch of path, where a few walkers lingered, so Lex hid in the  
bushes while Aiden placed the call.  
She told the police what had happened, leaving out any mention of  
her name or what she had been doing in the park in the first place, and of  
course avoiding mention of gargoyles. She hung up on their questions,  
anxiously, having never openly defied Authority like that.  
"It's done," she said. "We should go before they get here."  
"Want that soda?" Lex offered. "I know where there'a a machine."  
"Sure."  
By the time they reached the machine, she had completely  
forgotten that there was anything weird about him. He was clever, funny,  
exactly as she expected from his letters. And now that she was used to him,  
he was really kind of cute. Not that she could ask him to the Prom or  
anything.  
The machine turned out to be broken, so he waited in the shadows  
while she went into a deli. Once she was inside and smelled the food, she  
realized how hungry she was. She bought two large sandwiches, roast beef  
and swiss with everything but onions, and a jumbo bag of chips, plus two  
sodas.  
As they ate, Lex asked, "What happened back there? With the  
light?"  
"What?"  
"When he grabbed you."  
"Oh. There was light from somewhere and it got in his eyes. Lucky.  
It gave me a chance to get away. Must have been a car's headlights or  
something."  
He shook his head. "There was no car."  
"Well, it had to come from somewhere," she shrugged.  
"You mean, you didn't do it?"  
"What, the light?" she laughed. "I did have one of those keychain  
flashlights, but it hasn't worked since the time I accidentally left it in the  
laundry."  
"So you're not one of Oberon's children?" he asked with peculiar  
emphasis, watching her reaction closely.  
Utterly mystified, she said, "Who what? Oberon? Wasn't that some  
Shakespeare guy?"  
"Then how did you do it?" Lex said, more to himself than her.  
"I didn't do anything!"  
"This is weird," he mused. "I should ask Goliath. Hey, want to  
come back and meet the rest of the clan?"  
"You mean there are more?"  
"Yeah!" He chuckled, a bit shamefaced. "Remember you were  
talking about how your mom wanted to go see Castle Wyvern? Well, that's  
where we live. That's why I wondered how she knew Xanatos. He kind of  
used to be our enemy."  
"I'd really like to meet them, and see the castle. But it's getting late.  
How about tomorrow?"  
"Well, Aiden, um ... I can't see you during the day."  
"Why not?"  
"I'll turn to stone when the sun comes up."  
"You're kidding."  
"Honest! That's how we sleep. Except we got put to sleep for a  
thousand years. That's how we wound up here. We used to live in Scotland.  
Xanatos brought us here and broke the spell."  
"Wow," she said, rubbing her temples. "Gargoyles, magic spells,  
what next?"  
"I could talk all night, and you'd still have to get Goliath or Angela  
to tell you all about Avalon."  
For some reason, that name stirred something in her. "Avalon?"  
"The magic island where Oberon's children live. And King Arthur.  
Goliath can tell you. Or Angela. She grew up there."  
"This is incredible! Everything I've ever imagined is turning out to  
be real!"  
"What do you mean?" he asked, tipping his head quizzically to one  
side.  
"When I was little, Aunt Mary used to tell me stories about  
gargoyles that guarded castles, and magic islands guarded by witches. The  
usual fairy tale stuff too, but it's the other ones I remember best."  
"I was really afraid to meet you," Lex confessed. "We've had some  
bad luck with humans. The last time I tried to make new friends, they turned  
out to be psychos who wanted to hunt us down."  
She laid her hand on his arm. "Not me. We're still friends, right?"  
He covered her hand with his and grinned at her. "You bet!"  
"Darn, I wish we were staying in New York," she sighed. "It's  
going to be tough saying goodbye."  
Hesitantly, he tucked a loose wisp of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I  
knew you were nice, and smart, and fun, and now I know you're pretty too."  
She blushed and laughed self-consciously. "Not really."  
"I mean it!"  
"I'm too short, and skinny --"  
"Hey, so am I, and I think you're perfect."  
"Lex, you're so sweet!" she said, kissing him on the cheek.  
He put his arm around her, still moving carefully as if he was afraid  
she'd freak out. His wing lay companionably over her back. She leaned  
against him and put her head on his shoulder.  
"I wish you could stay in New York too," he said, resting his head  
on hers.  
"Maybe I should start looking at East Coast colleges," she said.  
"Mom wants me to go to UCI and stay close to home, but I bet I could talk  
her into it." She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Speaking of Mom, I've  
got to get back! Their play gets out in twenty minutes, and if I'm not there  
..." she broke off, the imagined horrors of parental wrath numbing her lips.  
"Want a ride?" Lex offered.  
"That would be so great!" She jumped up excitedly and followed  
him to an abandoned building at the edge of the park.  
Although it was probably tresspassing, Aiden didn't even stop to  
think before following him up the fire escape. He climbed to a stair landing  
about halfway up and waited for her to join him.  
He spread his arms, fully extending his wings. "I couldn't carry you  
very well, but if you can hang on around my neck, yeah, like that, um ..." he  
stammered as she cuddled close. "How does Goliath keep his mind on  
gliding?" he wondered aloud. "Hold on tight!"  
* *  
"That's our room!" Aiden called. "The balcony with the towel  
hanging on the rail."  
"It's dark. Looks like they're still out. What's with the towel?"  
"Dad knocked over the coffee. Not just his cup. I'm talking the  
whole pot. Mom used the towel to sop it up and hung it out here to dry.  
Guess she forgot to bring it in."  
Lex soared to the balcony and landed clutching the rail. She was  
relieved and disappointed when her feet felt solid concrete beneath them.  
"That was terrific!"  
"You weren't scared?" he asked.  
She shook her head. "I knew you wouldn't let me fall. Want to  
come in for a minute?"  
"Sure."  
She slid back the door and peeked through the curtains, then  
waved. "It's clear."  
Lex came in and looked around interestedly. "Hey, cool, a laptop!"  
"It's my dad's. No modem, though. Next year, he says he's going to  
upgrade."  
Lex reached to open it, then glanced at her. "Can I take a look?"  
"Go ahead. He doesn't mind if I use it. There's a really neat castle-  
building program. You can even choose statues, but I don't think there's  
many gargoyles."  
He flipped on the computer and she leaned over his shoulder, both  
of their faces bathed in a greenish glow. Soon, he was showing her how to  
design a map of Castle Wyvern.  
"This is the room Xanatos gave us," he said.  
The lights snapped on.  
Aiden whirled, her blood icy, her skin tight. Lex froze like a deer in  
the headlights.  
Aunt Mary stood in the doorway. Her eyes got wider and wider,  
but something about her expression was wrong.  
Shock, yes. Plenty of shock.  
But no fear.  
And strangest of all, recognition.  
"You!" she breathed, staring at Lex. "I remember you!"  
Aiden, utterly flummoxed, looked at Lex. He, crouching beside her  
and wound so tight that if she touched him he would probably spring  
straight through the ceiling, seemed as startled as she was.  
Aunt Mary hastily shut the door and engaged the chain. "For the  
love of God, your parents are in the lobby! They just stopped off for a glass  
of wine!"  
"Aunt Mary," Aiden began, with absolutely no idea of what she  
was going to say, "it isn't what it looks like!"  
"Aye? It looks like a gargoyle, and a familiar one!"  
"You know her?" Aiden asked Lex.  
He shook his head. "I don't think so ..."  
"You're from the castle, one of the ones the Magus turned to  
stone!" Aunt Mary declared. "You weren't destroyed because the big one  
had sent you below as punishment for scaring us!"  
Lex twitched all over, one whole-body twitch that would have been  
funny under other circumstances, but Aiden was too busy trying to figure  
out what was going on.  
"How do you know about that?" Lex demanded.  
"Don't you recognize me, then? It was my boy, Tom, that tried to  
befriend you, and me that wouldn't let him!"  
"You're Tom's mother?" Lex reeled back, bumping into the table.  
The laptop slid and teetered, and Aiden grabbed it. She backed up,  
confused. "Who's Tom? I have a cousin?"  
"Poor dear," Aunt Mary said. "I'm not really your mother's older  
sister. We're not really kin at all, although I love you as if you were my  
own."  
"But that was a thousand years ago!" Lex cried. "How is this  
possible?"  
* *  
"How is this possible?" Goliath said, his eyes narrowing into  
suspicious slits.  
The rest of the clan, especially Angela, were silent and raptly  
attentive. Lex glanced at the clock, which told him he didn't have much  
time.  
"They can tell you themselves," he said. "Tonight. They're coming  
here."  
"Are you certain, Lexington?"  
He nodded. "Yeah. It's weird, but it makes sense. I guess. You're  
the one who knows how Avalon works."  
"I doubt Oberon himself knows that," Goliath said dryly.  
"Did you tell her that her son is alive?" Angela asked excitedly.  
"He was like a father to me and my rookery brothers and sisters!"  
"Is she immortal, like Demona and MacBeth?" Broadway asked,  
wincing as he accidentally spoke the hated name, but for the first time  
Goliath did not react as if stung.  
Lex waved for silence. "I can't answer everybody's questions! It's  
almost dawn."  
"To your places," Goliath commanded. "We'll get to the bottom of  
this mystery tonight."  
As the sun rose and stone claimed the clan, Owen Burnett stood  
straight in the new light. "You are right, Goliath," he said to the large statue.  
"Not even Oberon himself knows everything."  
"Something going on, Owen?" his employer asked. It had been a  
sleepless night for the parents of a teething infant, but somehow Xanatos  
made even exhaustion look good. If he had bags under his eyes, they were  
by Gucci.  
"We're having company tonight, sir. A Doctor Ferguson and his  
family."  
David Xanatos frowned. "That name rings a bell."  
"As well it should, sir. Doctor Ferguson's wife sold you the  
Grimorum. It was twenty years ago, I believe?"  
"Oh, yes," Xanatos nodded. "There was always something strange  
about her."  
"I think tonight you'll learn why. Permission to activate the hidden  
cameras in the gargoyles' suite?"  
"Is that really necessary?" He looked pained. "How many times do  
I have to say that they really are guests here? You don't believe me, Fox  
doesn't believe me, Goliath doesn't believe me ..."  
"Do you believe you, sir?"  
"Cheap shot, Owen."  
"Yes, sir. I assure you, however, that you'll find Mrs. Ferguson's  
revelations to be very ... illuminating."  
An eyebrow went up. "Is that so? Well, then, Owen, carry on."  
* *  
"It's so like being home again," the blond woman was saying as  
Owen opened the door. Whatever she had been about to say next was lost  
in a gasp of surprise as she laid eyes on the seven gargoyles standing in the  
center of the room.  
"It _is_ them!" the other woman, cried. She was older, beyond  
what could politely be called pleasantly plump, and her grey hair was pulled  
back in a bun. "I remember all of them, except for the girl. You, you're the  
leader, the one called Goliath!"  
"Yes." Goliath folded a hand over his waist and bowed slightly.  
"You are ... Tom's mother?"  
"I am. Mary Bywell."  
The blond woman's husband came in, looking very much like the  
professor of history that he was, complete with prematurely grey hair and  
spectacles, which he polished on the edge of his coat and replaced to get a  
better look at the gargoyles. His expression was intense and scholarly.  
The girl was small and slight, pretty in a waiflike way. As she came  
in, quick smiles of reassurance flashed between her and Lexington.  
Xanatos leaned closer to the console and adjusted the volume.  
"Tsk, tsk," his wife chided. "Spying on our 'guests'? For shame."  
"Only because Owen assures me there is something unusual going  
on."  
On the screen, introductions were being made.  
"I am Doctor Kenneth Ferguson," the professor said. "This is my  
wife, Finella, and our daughter, Aiden."  
Seats and refreshments were offered. Xanatos watched, amused, as  
the gargoyles did their best to engage in polite small talk before getting to  
whatever it was that was the real issue. He wondered who would bring it up  
first, mentally placing his bet on Goliath.  
"So the spell has been broken," Mary said. "How did it happen?"  
"Damn," Xanatos muttered, mentally paying up.  
"The castle rose above the clouds," Goliath said. "Such was the  
wording of the Magus' spell. But please, tell us, how it is that you come to  
be here. The last Tom saw of you, you were in a boat, sailing away from the  
gates of Avalon."  
"Lexington says you've seen Tom, that he's alive and well," Mary  
said.  
"Yes," Angela said. "He raised us, all the eggs, he and the princess  
and the Magus." She paused, then, added, "He and the princess are very  
much in love."  
"Awww," Fox said.  
"Shh!" Xanatos hissed.  
The door opened behind them and Owen came in. He took a seat  
next to Xanatos and stared into the screen. Focusing, it seemed, on the girl.  
Aiden.  
Angela babbled on, thrilling the old woman with tales of her son,  
until even doting papa Goliath started to get impatient. She got the hint  
when he nudged her with his wing. "But, please, tell us your story!"  
"It's really Finella's tale to tell," Mary said.  
The blond woman took a deep breath. "Ever since last night, I've  
been trying to think of the best way to tell it," she said. "I really don't know  
where to start. So I'll start with myself." She looked at her daughter.  
"Kenneth knows all of it, but this is the first Aiden's ever heard."  
The girl smiled uncertainly. Xanatos noticed that Owen wore a  
look of concentration. He glanced at Fox, saw that she'd noticed too.  
"I was a ward of the king," Finella said. "King Kenneth, the uncle  
of Princess Katherine. My father had been a knight in the king's service, and  
died saving him. His final wish was for me to be well cared for. So King  
Kenneth took it upon himself to offer me a queen's crown. I had to accept,  
but within weeks of arriving at his castle, my heart was won by a young  
soldier named Constantine."  
Here Mary made a face, like she'd just smelled something bad.  
Goliath was nodding. Aiden was staring at her mother as if she'd never seen  
her before.  
"I knew there was something strange about her!" Xanatos said  
triumphantly. "She's immortal? How?"  
"Shh!" Fox mimcked teasingly.  
Owen tapped the screen, redirecting their attention to it.  
"Much of what happened next was horrible," Finella continued.  
"I'm not proud of it. Constantine used me to trap King Kenneth, murdered  
him and stole his throne. A war ensued. Kenneth's son fled, but Katherine,  
who had arrived just days before, could not because of her cargo. The  
gargoyle eggs. To save them, she had to agree to marry Constantine, whose  
love for me proved as false as his honor. The only thing that kept me from  
hating Katherine was knowing that she wanted nothing to do with  
Constantine."  
"Finella agreed to help us flee and bear the eggs to safety," Mary  
said. "With the help of the Magus, she drugged Constantine and we made  
our escape. The Magus swore to take us beyond reach of any pursuers."  
"We sailed," Finella said. "We sailed, and the Magus chanted, and  
a strange mist descended on the world. Soon we came to a place that was  
guarded by three women, beautiful but cold, alien as the moon. They denied  
us passage because of the book the Magus carried."  
"The Grimorum Arcanorum," Goliath said.  
"Yes. The Magus ... he was torn between his love for his magic and  
his love for the princess."  
"Something he thought he concealed," Mary said, "but at that, at  
least, he was no artist."  
"He chose to go with her," Finella said. Her eyes had taken on a  
dreamy, faraway look, as if in her mind she was reliving the roll of the  
waves, the cool moisture of the mist. "And he gave the book into my  
keeping. I swore on my life to keep it away from Constantine. That was my  
one vow, my one driving thought as we sailed away from them. To keep the  
book safe away from Constantine."  
"Once," Mary added, "I thought I saw another craft, with two men  
aboard, so alike as to be twins, fearsome and white bearded, and I thought  
they might come after us, but we lost them in the mist."  
"We lost ourselves in the mist too," Finella said. "It seemed like  
forever that we sailed, with no idea of where we were or where we were  
going. Until at last the mist cleared, and we found ourselves near shore. It  
was a rocky highland, overlooked by a huge castle. We thought to find  
sanctuary there. But it was abandoned, a crumbling ruin, the gargoyle  
guardians overgrown with ivy."  
"It was this castle," Mary said. "Castle Wyvern. And those  
gargoyles were the lot of you."  
"We sheltered there," Finella said, rubbing her hands along her  
arms to ward off a remembered chill. "Everything seemed so _old_ and  
desolate! The village was gone without a trace. And we saw things. Things  
we could not believe or explain. A dragon of steel, with no head and wings  
that did not flap. A ship, once, far out at sea, with smoke pouring from what  
we thought were its masts."  
"Avalon had sent you through time," Goliath said in sudden  
understanding.  
"That's where I came in," Doctor Ferguson said. "This would have  
been twenty years ago. I was spending a semester abroad, gathering research  
for a paper on ancient Scottish castles. Actually, I was looking for ways to  
debunk the notion that the Scots had castles in the tenth century. I was trying  
to find proof that Castle Wyvern was much younger than it was reported to  
be."  
Finella nodded. "He found us instead."  
"And oh," laughed Mary, "the time we had, trying to convince each  
other our stories were true!"  
"Once I satisfied myself of the validity of the Grimorum, especially  
of the Magus' writings in the back which told what had happened, I came to  
believe," Doctor Ferguson said.  
"I fell in love with Kenneth," Finella said. "He was so unlike the  
Kenneth I had known, and even better, so unlike Constantine! He taught us  
of our new world. We decided it would be easiest to pretend that Mary was  
my elder sister. Eventually, Kenneth and I were married. A few years later,  
Aiden was born. And a few years after that, in desperate need of money, we  
decided to sell the Grimorum."  
"Why?" Goliath demanded. "Didn't you know how powerful it  
was? How dangerous?"  
"I had fulfilled my vow to keep it away from Constantine, for  
Constantine had died centuries ago," she said. "And in this new world of  
science, who would have believed in a book of magic spells?"  
"So you sold it to Xanatos," Goliath rumbled.  
"He always says my name like that," Xanatos whispered to his  
wife. "Xanatos, to rhyme with scum."  
"Yes. To David Xanatos, a young newly-made millionaire with an  
interest in antiques." Finella glanced around at the room. "Then, a few years  
ago, we heard that he had purchased the castle and was planning to move it  
here."  
"And then, not long ago," Mary added, "we began hearing strange  
things in the news. Even in California it would crop up every now and again.  
So when Kenneth had the chance to come to New York, we thought we'd see  
what we could see. And I for one have to say how glad I am to see you all  
moving again!"  
Aiden was crying. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" she managed  
between sobs.  
Finella went to her and embraced her. "How could we? You would  
have thought we were crazy."  
"Aye, until she brought a gargoyle home," Mary said, winking at  
Lexington. "We should've known the girl would never be a typical  
teenager."  
"Indeed," Owen murmured. He rose and left without a word of  
explanation.  
"That man gets weirder and weirder all the time," Fox said.  
Xanatos grinned wryly at her. "Well, he doesn't get it from _my_  
side of the family."  
"Ha, ha, very funny. Who took us time travelling on our  
honeymoon? _I_ suggested a nice Mediterranean cruise."  
"Wow, Goliath," Broadway said. "Is it true? I mean, do you believe  
it?"  
"Yes, I do." The big gargoyle extended his hands to the humans.  
"You are part of our clan."  
Doctor Ferguson clasped forearms with Goliath without a qualm  
and pushed his spectacles up on his nose with the other hand. "So, tell me  
about Avalon. Why send them forward in time so far? Why to me?"  
"Karma?" Brooklyn suggested in his typical wiseass manner,  
earning a poke from Angela.  
"Karma is but fate," Owen said, entering the room. "And fate is  
Avalon's stock in trade."  
"What are you doing here?" Goliath growled.  
Owen ignored him and turned to Finella. "Avalon sends you where  
you need to be. It sent you ahead to a time when you could deliver the  
Grimorum to Mr. Xanatos. So that he could, in turn, restore the gargoyles.  
So that they could ultimately serve Avalon's will."  
"You've been eavesdropping," Angela said, lip curling viciously.  
"Serve Avalon's will?" Goliath echoed. "By defying Oberon?"  
"Avalon's will and Oberon's will are not always the same," Owen  
said mildly. "Titania's will, now that is another story."  
Fox rolled her eyes. "I just knew my mother was going to come  
into this someplace."  
"But Avalon did something more," Owen continued. "It worked its  
power on you."  
Finella could not break free of the chain of Owen's gaze. "But we  
never even reached the island," she whispered.  
"You were within the boundaries of Avalon, from which no human  
has ever passed unchanged."  
Goliath seemed to swell all over, enlarging him to what looked like  
twice his already impressive size. "Unchanged? Then what has it done to --"  
Owen made an exasperated noise. "For once, put Detective Maza  
out of your mind," he said scornfully.  
Goliath flushed violet and Xanatos chuckled.  
Owen smiled at Finella in what was probably meant to be a  
soothing manner, but she was even more unnerved. "The changes would be  
so slight that you would likely never even notice." He paused, glanced at  
Goliath as if to say *see?* and went on. "But you carried an item of magic,  
and had been touched by sorcery only days before, when the Magus enlisted  
your aid. So the effect was stronger in you than in Mrs. Bywell. And  
strongest of all in your daughter."  
"What?" Aiden blurted.  
"I knew it!" Lex cried. "The light! The light came from your hands!  
I saw it! Not the reflection of a car's headlights. It was you, Aiden!"  
Everyone else looked baffled, except, as usual, for Owen. The pale  
man nodded. "Yes. Just as a mother's exposure to chemicals can have  
lingering effects, so too with magic."  
"Let me get this straight," Kenneth Ferguson said. "You're saying,  
and never mind how you know so much because I'm sure you wouldn't give  
me a straight answer anyway, that Finella was exposed to magic and it  
changed her. Genetically. Like some form of radiation. It caused a mutation  
that she then passed on to Aiden."  
"Yes," Owen said, actually seeming a bit put off.  
Xanatos snickered. "Got you all figured out, doesn't he, Owen?"  
Although the cameras were only one-way, Owen glanced up as if  
he'd heard that remark.  
"So, you see," Owen said to Goliath, "your concerns for Detective  
Maza are unfounded. Unless she is expecting ... ?"  
Goliath's expression would have made brave men faint, but Owen  
was unperturbed and the rest of the gargoyles hid smirks and muffled  
laughs.  
"Wait, wait," Aiden said, waving her hands. "What do you mean?  
I've got some disease or something? I'm a mutant, like some comic book  
character?"  
"Not --"  
"What he means," Goliath said, his voice rolling over Owen's, "is  
that you have the gift of sorcery."  
"Yes," Owen said again, looking even more annoyed. "Few humans  
and fewer gargoyles have the talent, and for all of them it requires lengthy  
periods of study. But you, Aiden Ferguson, have a rare ability. Untutored,  
you have already begun casting spells. What went through your mind before  
you saw the light Lexington mentions?"  
"I was just thinking about Latin class," she said defensively. "Just  
random words."  
"And you cast a spell!" Lex said enthusiastically. "Wow, Aiden,  
that's fantastic!"  
Everyone was staring at Aiden, who seemed to shrink in her chair.  
Xanatos had pegged her as the ultimate wallflower and it showed now more  
than ever. The attention, the interest and awe, made her thoroughly  
uncomfortable.  
"With training," Owen said, "Aiden could become a sorceress of  
great power."  
"But I was _going_ to major in history," she said meekly.  
Xanatos roared with laughter.  
Her parents exchanged a glance. "I can't think of any colleges that  
offer courses in that area," Kenneth said. "At least, no reputable schools."  
"No. It is something that would have to be pursued in independent  
study," Owen replied. "Here."  
"Here in New York?" Finella asked.  
"Here in this castle," Owen clarified.  
"You old dog," Xanatos murmured admiringly. "I can use a good  
wizard around the place."  
"You mean, Aiden would live here?" Lex's face shone with delight  
and hope.  
Goliath looked fondly at the smaller gargoyle. "I believe that is  
Aiden's decision."  
Once again, all eyes turned to the tiny girl. Her throat moved as she  
swallowed.  
"Poor thing," Fox whispered. "I know how she feels. One minute,  
you think your life is perfectly normal, and then you find out bizarre secrets  
about your mother and that you yourself have some weird power you never  
even suspected."  
"What about school?" Finella asked. "You don't graduate until next  
year."  
"There are many fine private schools in this area," Owen said. "Mr.  
Xanatos sits on the board of directors of the Sterling Academy. I am certain  
a transfer could be arranged."  
"Sounds expensive," Mary pointed out.  
"I am certain that my employer would be willing to sponsor the  
young lady's education, with the understanding that she will then come to  
work for Xanatos Enterprises."  
"Took the words right out of my mouth, Owen old chum," Xanatos  
said to the screen.  
Aiden looked overwhelmed. "I ... I think I need some fresh air."  
"I can show you around," Lex offered eagerly.  
Brooklyn watched them go. In a low voice, he said, "Good luck,  
brother! Hope you do better than I did with Maggie."  
"What?" Angela turned to him.  
He shook his head. "Nothing." He took her hand and smiled  
warmly. "Nothing at all."  
* *  
"Lex, what am I going to do?" Aiden wailed.  
"You shouldn't ask me," he said. "I'd say go for it. I mean, if you're  
here, and I'm here, we can be together."  
"I'd like that. But this is so much all at once! I never asked to be a  
sorceress!"  
"I don't think there is anybody to ask even if you'd wanted to.  
Aiden, think about it though! You can do things nobody else can even  
dream of. You have that power in you, that great gift from Avalon. It'd  
really be too bad to waste it."  
She ran her hand along the smooth cut stone of the wall. "I could  
really like it here. So high, above everything, a real castle in the sky."  
"You'd have friends. Good friends."  
"What about Mr. Xanatos? You don't trust him very much."  
"Yeah, that's true. I'd be worried he might want to use you, use  
your power for his schemes. So you'd have to be on guard all the time."  
She sighed. "When I was a kid, I used to wish there was something  
special about me. I'd daydream about being able to fly, or talk to animals, or  
things like that. Now I've actually got the chance, and I'm scared half to  
death."  
Lex took her hands and made her look at him. "Aiden, even if you  
didn't have magic, there would still be something special about you."  
"I'd miss my family ..." she trailed off. "But I'd been thinking about  
a distant college anyway, and I could still visit them. You're right, I  
shouldn't waste this gift. It's like being an artist, or a musician, right? Talent  
shouldn't be ignored."  
"Are you going to stay?" Lex asked anxiously.  
"I think I really am!" She hugged him tight. "I don't know what I'll  
tell people back home, but I'm going to do it!"  
Before he knew what he was going to do, he kissed her. Just like in  
the movies. If he'd stopped to think about it, he probably would have goofed  
it up. Except for a peck on the cheek from Angela, he'd never done anything  
like it before. But it was great!  
She started, and he saw her eyes fly open, then he felt her lips  
curve in a smile and she kissed him back. When they drew back, her eyes  
were brighter and more sparkly than the city lights below.  
"Come on," she said, blushing, seizing his hand. "I want to tell my  
folks I've made up my mind."  
They dashed back in. Owen had dropped his mysterious oracle  
routine and produced refreshments, so the room had taken on the bizarre  
atmosphere of a cocktail party with humans and gargoyles mingling, sipping  
drinks, and nibbling at treats. Xanatos and Fox had joined them. Mary was  
cooing over baby Alexander, who was alert and cheerful from his nap.  
"Um, Mom? Dad?" Aiden called.  
Expectant silence fell over the room, and Aiden was once more the  
center of attention. She took a deep breath. "I want to be a sorceress," she  
announced. "I want to stay here. This is where I need to be."  
Finella beamed proudly. "Oh, Aiden, I hoped you would!"  
David Xanatos clasped Aiden's hands. "I cannot tell you how  
happy I am."  
As he drew the Fergusons aside to discuss details, Goliath and the  
others approached Lexington. He rested a large purple hand on Lex's  
shoulder. "I hope your friend has made the right decision."  
"I'll look out for her, Goliath, I promise," Lex said. "I won't let  
Xanatos trick her."  
"Hunh," Broadway mumbled through a triangular cucumber  
sandwiche. "Isn't it kinda funny that your pen pal turns out to be a wizard?"  
"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "Talk about coincidence. Practically the  
only person in the world who is as weird as the rest of us."  
"Coincidence had nothing to do with it."  
The clan whirled on Owen.  
"Would ye _stop_ doing that!" Hudson barked.  
"What do you mean?" Lex asked suspiciously.  
Owen permitted himself a small smile. "Science and sorcery go  
hand in hand. What Avalon could not do, the Internet provided quite  
nicely." He swiftly went to the side of the beckoning Xanatos, leaving the  
gargoyles staring after him.  
"Ye know," Hudson said, "I ne'er did care much for that man, but  
I'm really beginnin' to hate him."  
"Gee," Lex grinned. "I'm really beginning to like him."  
* *  
The End 

   [1]: http://www.sabledrake.com
   [2]: mailto:christine@sabledrake.com



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